Horror games aren’t for everyone and a lot of people won’t even try to play a survival game just for a fact that their
mental health wouldn’t cope. In my opinion, that’s truly a shame of not going out of your comfort zone because a lot of survival horror games give you a feeling of excitement and eeriness that no other type of game could manage. During the development process of a horror survival game, developers have to take into account so many things that will result in a great horror game: atmosphere, storytelling, weirdness, … Visage manages to get all of these things almost perfectly right.
The game lets you control a man named Dwayne who committed something terrible and is trying to cope with his actions. Dwayne is battling against his inner demons while constantly being haunted by ghostly visions of the house’s awful past. While being tormented by past events, you try to find clues and solve puzzles in order for you to escape the house while trying to remain sane and alive.
“The game builds up this feeling very nicely.”
Visage is a terrific horror experience and it succeeds in latching on a constant feeling of fear without creating cheap and cheesy jump scares. Creating a terrifying atmosphere is what Visage does best. Just by sound effects, ongoing events throughout the house, the ghostly visions and an unsettling feeling of something or someone that’s following you is enough to keep the player on his toes. The game builds up this feeling very nicely. Being confronted by the imagery of a murderous happening to the point where you start to realize that there’s a lot more going on in the background than you would like to accept. The un-going ghostly encounters and sound effects keep the house’s atmosphere alive.
The house you’re trapped in is just like any standard horror house. A big house that’s been around for some years and has some stories to tell. From the moment you control your character and you’re wandering around throughout the house, you have this sentence in the back of your head: if these walls could talk… Place this house in a stormy dark night and you’ll set up the stage very nicely since nighttime is the best time for having paranormal events. The horror house is divided in different locked-up rooms but large enough for you to explore and search for hidden secrets. You’ll have to keep your eyes open for any type of clue or key items that’ll make your journey easier. You also won’t see too many apparitions but you do have the feeling that they’re there, watching you and waiting for the right moment to strike. Eventually, it’s the little things that’ll keep your awareness to a high level and in the end, as a player, you have a lot of control. You can turn on lights or interact with doors to keep yourself safe. Also, you’ll be able to search the trash, toy boxes, laundry baskets, … for anything important.
“It keeps the eeriness alive without overloading your screen with flashing images, unsettling visuals or unnecessary jump scares.”
As I said, it’s all about the little things that set the stage for a creepy atmosphere. Lights can be turned on/ off by the player but the ghosts will also have their way with them. Some areas or corners of the room stay dark, even though every light’s been turned on. Self-closing doors, jumpy radios, swinging chandeliers, chiming clocks, … are all things that’ll happen constantly. It keeps the eeriness alive without overloading your screen with flashing images, unsettling visuals or unnecessary jump scares.
Visage is only a 4 chapter story but searching for clues and figuring out what the hell’s going on, takes a decent amount of your free time without having the feeling you’re wandering around without a purpose or goal. However, some puzzles or interactions along the way are being held back by non-intuitive controls that keep the game away from a perfect score. The game relies on a sanity system and just by these less-intuitive controls, you literally throw away key components a bit too early than you would like to.
“I truly wanted to end my life faster, just to start over again.”
Talking about the sanity system, it’s a standard feature in most horror survival games and Visage depends on it as well. The system is fairly simple, stand too long in the dark and it affects your sanity. If you’re on the brink of becoming insane, the only way to relieve the stress is by taking sanity pills. Too long in the dark or staying too long on the brink of insanity will allow the ghost to appear and kill the player. Make sure you know the controls before you actually start your journey for redemption. You’re constantly performing actions in the dark to solve riddles and due to the bad controls, mistakes will often happen. The fact that these mistakes are crucial for your survival, is a very unpleasant way to make progress. I constantly got myself killed just because my sanity couldn’t be saved due to the fact that I made a lot of mistakes by using my pills too quickly and too often. I truly wanted to end my life faster, just to start over again.
Visage also offers a lot of puzzles but not every puzzle is a great puzzle. There are moments where the game offer an overload of clues which makes the journey towards the goal fast and pleasant but there are also puzzles that offered a couple of clues, hoping the player would reach their goal by just exploring. When the game uses a sanity system, you don’t have time to spare as paranormal events are constantly going, so there isn’t a moment throughout the game where you can take a moment to breathe and let your sanity recover. In other words, some puzzles are just too frustrating to enjoy the game’s full potential. There were also a lot of times where I went back and fourth to the same room just to see if I’ve missed anything that kept me away from my progression. I do have to say that most puzzles felt well-thought-out and I enjoyed the figuring-out-part.
Conclusion:
If you enjoy horror survival games, Visage is a must to play. Veteran players will enjoy themselves just by wandering through the house due to Visage’s excellent way of creating a creepy atmosphere. The visuals and sound effects are top-notch! The only struggle players will have, is the use of the not-so-intuitive controls. This was something I truly disliked and drained my motivation. However, the puzzles and the atmosphere kept me going. If you can see past the controls, you’re in for a thrilling experience.
8.5/10
Tested on PS4
